"Pathetic": Cold Vancouver man says landlord won't turn up their heat | Daily Hive

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A cold hard fight is underway in Vancouver between renters and a Toronto-based property manager over the refusal to turn the heat up.

According to the renter, he and his wife have lived in Sierra Estates, located at 1755 Haro Street, for nearly four years. Despite the heating being included in the Residential Tenancy Agreement, the couple said they’ve noticed the heat is not running to at total capacity during winter.

Daily Hive Urbanized is identifying the tenant with a pseudonym, Jack, as they fear backlash.

Since moving in four years ago, Jack said they’ve mentioned how cold their unit is to the building manager on site. However, Jack said because a large company manages the building, MetCap Living Management Inc., he and others who’ve complained are not able to trigger prompt solutions and called the lack of a resolution “pathetic.”

Jack admits that when he first moved into the building, he did not fully understand his rights as a tenant. However, he’d grown to be “upset” with the company after years without a solution.

“I feel a little embarrassed that it took me… four years to figure out what my rights fully are here. And I didn’t even know that [there are] basic temperature requirements in a building… because I never had this problem in my life before.”

According to the Residential Tenancy Act, each municipality sets the minimum temperature requirements for rental units, and it is the landlord’s responsibility to provide adequate heating based on said requirements.

In Vancouver, residential accommodation must be maintained at 22°C.

After years of pleading for a solution, Jack said a building manager permitted an employee to check the temperature in the unit. Over the weekend, the thermometer recorded the temperature to be at 13.2°C in two areas of the home and 1°C in their bedroom, according to Jack. On Monday before 1:30 pm, the temperature recorded in the rental was 9°C.

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“This is not a third-world country where we can’t figure out basic necessities, right?” Jack questioned.

Jack said when a MetCap employee visited his home to check his unit’s temperature, they said the building’s heat is controlled by the Toronto head office and that buildings cannot regulate their heat on their own.

MetCap did not respond to claims regarding if the heat was controlled. It did tell Daily Hive Urbanized that it received a complaint of low heat in one unit from Sierra Estates on Saturday. In response, a plumber was sent to investigate “the same day and he made adjustments to the system in the unit.”

MetCap added that it inspected the unit again Monday morning to determine if the adjustments fixed the problem.

“However, the temperature was still low this morning,” MetCap added.
“We have called our HVAC contractor to attend to the unit asap.”

The tenant added that every winter that he’s lived in the West End building, he’s found himself jumping through hoops to seek a solution to the heating issue.

“First year, we bought a space heater, and it helped a little bit. Next year, we added another space heater, which helped a little bit, and then now this is just kind like — okay, this is really bad.”

Last week, Metro Vancouver received its first dose of winter weather. Temperatures have plummeted to well below freezing due to arctic air reaching the south coast of BC, resulting in temperatures well below seasonal normals.

Over the weekend, the temperatures dipped to as low as -14°C.

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So, to keep himself and his pregnant wife comfortable, Jack said he is running two space heaters and their oven and he and they are layering up with socks, thermal sweatpants, sweatshirts, and toques.

“This time around, it’s been bad,” Jack said.

“We feel we are out of options and I’m worried that my pregnant wife will get sick in this extreme cold.”

Additionally, running space heaters and the oven is costing Jack more money and is causing him stress.

“It’s stressful because I don’t want to leave this space heater on and go to sleep cause anything can happen,” he said. “So I’m putting the space heater on a timer and waking up every couple hours to put the timer on again.”

Jack also works from home and said, “I’m freezing.”

MetCap told Daily Hive Urbanized that staff will distribute electrical heaters to Jack’s unit while it troubleshoots the issue.

“In the event the resident continues to be uncomfortable we have offered to put them up in a hotel this evening if they desire,” it added.

“We have apologized to the resident for this inconvenience and are working to remedy the issue as soon as possible.”

With a baby on the way, high rent prices, the cost of living, and now heating issues, Jack admits he and his wife have considered moving out of the city altogether.

“To be honest, my wife and I don’t even know if we want to live in the city anymore… tired of it.”

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